We're great fans of curating content, and so we've put together this playlist of soulful christmas songs from YouTube.
It's an alternative to the rubbish played in every shop at the moment. Because it's a selection of what is already on YouTube we can't edit the graphics - so it's one to listen to rather than watch.

It's about an hour long and we find it's best enjoyed with a large glass of NZ Pinot Noir.

As many of you will know, I left Mindshare in the summer to investigate opportunities in mobile. I've had a fascinating time, meeting lots of very smart people in the space (some old friends and many new friends) and I'm absolutely convinced that mobile is going to transform our business. If you have any doubts at all over the impact mobile is having, take 5 minutes to watch this Morgan Stanley video;http://www.addictivemobile.com/blog/2009/11/19/mary-meeker-video-its-all-about-mobile.html

What I also realised is that, with some honourable exceptions, the space is not that well served by professional services companies. Brands just don't believe that their agencies - creative or media - get this space. And amongst those who do take it seriously there is too much emphasis on technology and not enough on consumer insight and creative thinking.

So I have decided to start an agency in this space. I've teamed up with my friends at Agenda21 - some of the smartest digital media people in the business - and we are launching addictive! - a full service mobile agency.

The team will offer everything needed to develop effective marketing campaigns that have mobile at their heart - strategy, creative, development and media. Clients can use all the services or just the ones they need at the time.

Whilst we specialise in mobile, we'll be working in areas like Facebook too, as we see the worlds of mobile and social as very close. And, just as we pioneered at DLKW Dialogue and Big Picture, we'll be working in an open source way; collaborating and partnering with our clients, technology providers, content producers, media owners and other agencies to produce big addictive ideas that define how mobile can be used to build business.

And of course if you, or anyone you know, need help determining how best you can use mobile to build your business do get in touch. I'll buy the cup of tea.

And if you still need convincing that moibile is the right place to be, listen to what smarter people than me have to say;

WPP CEO Martin Sorrell: The biggest disappointment is that mobile advertising has not moved successfully as quickly as we'd like to see it. It's enormously attractive to clients. I

Publicis CEO Maurice Levy Perhaps surprisingly his view is that the prime digital medium will not be the internet as many predict, but the mobile phone. "In a couple of years, most of the information you share, most of the advertising you read, most of the messages you send, most of the music you listen to will transit through your cell phone," he states confidently.

NB - I'll be cross posting mobile stuff here and at addictive. Big Picture will also continue to look at non mobile stuff

Enough people have smartphones ( and everyone else wants one) , the distribution through the burgeoning app stores now makes getting content and services out there easy and the built in business model offers great opportunity.

Now all that is needed is talent who can develop addictive content and services for this platform. Talent who can connect the mobile world with facebook and socialise this content and services. And talent who can find the right way for business to take advantage of this new opportunity; reducing costs, minimising churn, maximising profit and building a rich dialogue with their most valuable customers.

In yesterdays Sunday Times the Vodafone CEO talked about tourists he had watched in Rome;Technology, he noted, was changing their habits.
“Some of them were with the guide who was holding the little
umbrella but following a map on their phone as well,” he said. The
smartphones that Vodafone had been selling for five years or more to
business customers had finally permeated into the mainstream.

The facts are now pretty clear - consumers are using smartphones as the remote control for their life - accessing mobile services and content as they need to solve problems - which way is the Museum?, what's the football score?, i need to order some groceries, i have 5 minutes to kill etc.

Yet there is a real disconnect here - business seems a little slow to get with this programme. Research suggests few Fortune 1000 companies have a mobile strategy - and we believe that even amongst those that have, mobile is being viewed as an acquisition channel. Classic Big M Marketing - focused on promotion.

But what about the opportunities for what we call small m marketing - reducing the cost of servicing customers through enhanced self service, lowering transaction costs, increasing barriers to churn, facilitating advocacy etc. This type of service issue is perfectly suited to mobile yet few mobile marketers seem to focus here.

Why? Well the panel I ran at the Mobile Marketing Forum in Berlin suggested that clients think Agencies don't get mobile. Speakers from Coke, P&G, BMW and Lufthansa talked about their success stories and it was clear that the client is taking the lead.

Resolving this disconnect between consumers and business is a huge opportunity. We believe that the answer is addictive services and content that solve consumers problems - branded utility made real by mobile.

There are few brands that can't benefit from this approach - we note that Vodafone have a churn problem too

Some 18% of its better value contract customers quit in the past year. They cost £350 each to recruit.

Those nice people at Contagious have allowed me to share the article on Apps I wrote for their latest issue.Download Apps - Contagious march 09As with anything moving as fast as apps it's already a little outdated - the founder of Dodgeball ( which I mention) has now launched foursquare and a number of the gaps I discuss have been filled.But I remain convinced that apps ( be they on Facebook, iPhone or anywhere else )are a major opportunity for brands and will be a significant factor for some time yet.

"I believe the next stage of brand advertising is going to be in the
realm of 'branded utility,"' says Palmer. (He co-credits Anomaly
partner Johnny Vulcan with coining the phrase.)

Creating something that people need, not aping existing applications because you can, is key, says Palmer.
"For the same budget and energy as we expend on current forms of
advertising, we could be making something more tangible, useful and
reusable that plays a more integral part in the consumer's life. This
is 'interactive,' which is not synonymous with 'online,' by the way."

This is exactly what we mean when we talk about branded applications - brands creating something that is useful/valuable to their customers. The SharePriceAlert we did for Halifax last year is a good example of this approach and StattoStatto also fits into the space (although we did it for ourselves rather than a brand). We're currently working on similar projects - including some with a focus on social media such as MySpace and our growing interest in widgets, gadgets and bots is part of this.

It's an interesting area, as it can feel more like branded content than advertising - but we believe that the role of advertising will increasingly be to invite interaction - and these branded utilities will give advertising something interesting to say.

Ads thats say our beans are great, are ignored by consumers - they're just not believed. So why not have ads that say - we've 100 great ideas for feeding your kids using our great beans.

And rather than saying our home insurance is cheaper why not offer an application that allows you to find the real value of your house contents (most homes are drastically under insured) and use that to drive higher value quotes.

Thinking about what your customers would find useful and then giving to them, is a great way of getting competitive advantage.

UPDATE - James at ModernMarketing reminds me of our conversation yesterday about object centered sociality. Could branded utility be the object?